Chapter 445
At udius'' remark, Sophia dipped her head and chuckled softly. Whirling around, she went into the
walk-in closet and changed before emerging again.
She still wore a maxi dress this time, but it was much more elegant and casualpared to the one
Katherine wanted her to wear together that night.
The light apricot floral chiffon dress paired with a dark blue denim jacket on the outside gave her a
casual sense of being on vacation.
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She had no makeup on, merely lipstick.
The maple red lipstickplemented her dress perfectly. Despite theck of makeup, herplexion
had improved considerably.
udius had just hung up the phone when he was greeted by the sight of Sophia walking out the
instant he lifted his eyes.
His ebony eyes flickered, and heplimented her generously, "You''re absolutely gorgeous."
A smile bloomed on Sophia''s face. "Thank you."
Snagging her phone, she left the room with udius.
udius stayed on the top floor, while Sophia was only two floors below his room. The elevator
remained empty until it reached the restaurant on the third floor, and a few people entered.
As Sophia was tall and slender with fair skin and Aplothian features, those who stepped into the
elevator reflexively took a second look at her.
Epeans with chiseled features, bright hair, and blue eyes appeared exceedingly romantic and alluring
when they stared someone in the eye.
The Epean who entered the elevator was very much open, staring at Sophia as soon as he stepped in.
If it were any other women, they would have long since been hypnotized.
However, Sophia merely smiled faintly before lifting a hand to tuck the scattered hair by her cheek to
the back of her ear. Then, she turned and looked away.
Probably because of her unresponsiveness, the Epean man retracted his gaze and conversed with his
friends in Ustranasion.
Listening in, Sophia and udius gathered that the men were talking about a seductive blonde girl they
had metst night.
The conversation was somewhat scandalous. On instinct, Sophia stole a peek at udius, only to
notice that the man was also looking at her.
Mortified, Sophia withdrew her gaze and pinned her eyes on the elevator floor disy.
Fortunately, the elevator arrived at the second sub-basement shortly. It was a little past eight at night,
and a crowd had only started thronging the casino.
It was a huge ce, and Sophia only managed to explore less than a third of itst night.
No sooner had they entered the casino than udius'' bodyguard handed them a basket of chips. "Mr.
udius, Ms. Yarrow."
Sophia swept a gaze over the chips that were worth over a million in Anndurn currency in the
basket. She could not help arching a brow. "How many shares does Mdm. Lenoir own here?"
"Fifteen percent," udius replied while taking the basket.
Thereafter, he asked, "What would you like to y?"
Sophia scanned around the ce. She yed baratst night and even won a tidy sum, but she
merely left her chips on the table to chase after udius.
Recalling that matter, Sophia snorted softly. "Can I get back the money I wonst night?"
udius said nothing, merely shooting an indifferent look at Joe at the side. Joe was bewildered for a
moment, but he swiftly understood the man''s meaning. "Of course. I''ll go and get it for you right away."
"Thank you."
Well, it was at least eight hundred thousand, enough to buy Katherine two handbags.
Sophia wavered for a moment before answering udius'' question earlier. "ckjack?"
"Sure."
ckjack, also known as Twenty-One, originated from Ferropene. It was not a difficult game, merely
requiring the total value of the cards in its yers'' hands to be below twenty-one. A yer was allowed
to stop asking for cards midgame. When all the yers had done so, the dealer would flip over the hole
card and continue drawing cards until the hand total exceeded seventeen points. If the dealer went
beyond twenty-one points, it meant that he lost, and the yers would win double their bets.
Otherwise, it would be aparison of values whereby the person with the highest value would win. If
the values drew even, it would be considered a tie, and the yers would get their bets back.
Sophia had yed the game once for the sake of acquiring apany in the past.
Both Sophia and udius were Aplothians with outstanding auras and extraordinary looks. The
moment they took their seats, they snagged everyone''s attention.
There was a high-low card counting strategy in ckjack. It involved adding a point to each card with
values of two, three, four, five, and six, adding none to cards with values of seven, eight, and nine, and
subtracting a point to cards with values of ten, Jack, Queen, King, and Ace. All the points were to be
totaled. Therger the figure, the fewer cards of lower values had appeared previously, and the more
beneficial it was to yers as there was a high possibility for the dealer obtaining a card with a high
value and exceeding twenty-one points. Conversely, if the sum was a negative number, few cards of
high denominations had appeared previously, and the stakes were on the dealer''s side.
A deck of cards contained fifty-two cards in total. Sophia and udius had incredible memories, and
they both had a rough idea of the situation after a hand had been dealt.
Sophia was exceedingly bold in ying cards. While her hole card was of a high value, and she could
easily go over twenty-one points if she were to continue drawing cards, she could still do so without any
change in expression.
Just after two rounds, she won a mint.
They yed a few rounds and won almost every single one. Therefore, it was no surprise that
someone had his sights on them.
When a round of ckjack drew to an end, a tall and slender girl with blond hair and blue eyes came
over and asked, "Hello, sir, miss. The gentleman over there would like to y a few rounds with you
both. Do you mind?"
Following the girl''s gaze, Sophia discovered that the man was Aplothian.
She withdrew her gaze and turned to look at udius. "Mr. Lenoir?"
"Whatever you decide is fine with me."
Sophia studied the Aplothian man once more. She dipped her head slightly before looking up and
replying smilingly in Ustranasion, "Okay."
udius ced his chips in her small basket. Sophia threw him a sidelong nce before following the
girl ahead with a chuckle.
"Hello, Ms. Yarrow."
The Aplothian man called out Sophia''s name right away. Sophia scrutinized the middle-aged man in
front of her, but she had no recollection of him. "Sorry, but you are?"
"Ss Cadogan."
While Sophia had never met Ss before, she was all too familiar with that name. "Nice to meet you,
Mr. Cadogan."
If my memory serves, the chairman of thepany thatpeted with Odyssey for the project in
February this year was named Ss Cadogan. Ah, our meeting today is more or less an unfortunate
coincidence!
Ss was already in his sixties, but he kept in shape, so he looked like a man in his early fifties. It was
rumored that he abandoned the education field to venture into business. Wearing a pair of thin-rimmed
sses, he regarded Sophia with a smile, appearing all elegant. "I didn''t expect to bump into you here,
Ms. Yarrow."
Pausing momentarily, he shifted his gaze to udius beside Sophia. "And of course, Mr. Xenos."
Despite the perpetual smile on the man''s face, Sophia could tell at a single nce that he was up to no
good.
Alexander had been missing for half a year, and everyone in Chanaea was convinced that he must
have long since died. Yet, Ss was addressing udius as "Mr. Xenos" right off the bat, sounding
even more confident than Sophia did when she firstid eyes on the man.
Hmm, something is fishy about this.
udius cast Ss a cold look. "Indeed, it''s very much a coincidence."
Lifting a hand, Ss nudged his sses, the smile in his eyes intensifying. "I noticed that you were both
having fun and took the liberty to intrude for a bit. It so happens that I also love ying ckjack. Why
don''t the three of us y a few rounds?"
At that, Sophia chuckled. "Sure."
"In that case, follow me, please."
By then, the girl from earlier had returned. She led the way ahead.
Sophia and udius walked behind Ss. Sophia stared at thetter''s back, the smile on her face
dimming a shade.
Turning her head, she fixed her eyes on udius. Her lips moved imperceptibly as she warned the
man soundlessly that Ss must be plotting something nefarious.
Just when she had done so, she sensed a sudden squeeze on the hand by her side.
For a rare moment, she was stunned, for that was something Alexander used to do.
While she was distracted, udius lowered his head and whispered into her ear, "Don''t be afraid."
Blinking, Sophia suppressed the emotions surging forth within her.
In truth, she was not afraid, merely unsure about Ss'' motive.
In no time, the three of them arrived at a private room.
The private room was much quieter than the gambling tables outside. Sophia ced the small basket
in her hand on the table. Meanwhile, Ss lifted a hand and dismissed the girl with a wave. After the girl
had left the private room, a croupier walked in.
"I previously heard that some ident had befallen you, Mr. Xenos. Even the inte was abuzz about
your demise. From the look of things now, all that was likely just baseless rumors."
Picking up a chip, Sophia held it between her index and thumb fingers, tapping it against the table
without saying anything.
Beside her, udiusmented, "You''re quite a busybody, Mr. Cadogan."
Following that, Ss chortled. "Well, I enjoy the entertainment segment asionally."
The croupier asked whether they would like to begin the game. Ss nced at Sophia before turning
his gaze to udius. "Small bets are fun, but huge bets lead to ruination, Mr. Xenos, Ms. Yarrow. Let''s
just have some fun."
As he said that, he tossed his chip out.
Despite proposing a small bet, he flung out a chip worth a hundred thousand right off the bat.
Tsk-tsk, a small bet, huh?